Digimon V+

[Tokyo Oranges]

Well, This is a story I've been working on, on and off for a long time, a little over five years if my math is correct. But anyway its my own take on a Digimon Adventure esque fic. As for the title, I'm not too sure if it's going to stay since V+ has to do with something much, much later in the story. I have a majority of it written down in a binder on about 150 pages, I've got the Prologue and the first two chapters typed up and at the time of writing this, working on the third. After this I'll be posting at least one chapter a week.

Disclaimer:
The following is rated between PG and PG-13 for blood, violence and language. I take ownership only of my original digimon. All others belong to Bandai Inc.
Without further to do may I present to you: Digimon V+

~+~+~+~+~


Prologue- Avismon of the Dark Mountian


The jagged mountain towered over the surrounding rocky landscape. Dark storm clouds rumbled in the distance. Dead trees littered the mountain’s landscape and the only living being visible was hundreds of f feet above its base.

Perched on a rocky cliff was a large creature, rather avian in appearance. His raptorish face glowered as he scanned his territory, amber eyes flashing in the half light. There was a long crest of pure white feathers that curved down his back along with a feathery red crest on either side of the ‘mane‘ that only extended the length of his head. A jagged golden horn protruded from his head and seemed to be generating its own electricity, sparking occasionally in response to the electrically charged air. His cruel, hooked beak was a dark steely gray and pointed down in disapproval at something. Large, powerful scarlet wings sprouted from his shoulders. The rest of his body was covered in similar, fine scarlet plumage, except for his well muscled chest which was dark brown in color. His forearms were a scaly dull brownish yellow and ended in four long talon-like claws, each filed to a deadly point. His legs went seamlessly from humanoid to scaly and avian ending with long black, deadly talons. His tail feathers were also scarlet and tipped with white, currently relaxed they hung loosely, extending to his knees.

He turned away from the cliff and walked towards the dark fissure in the rock that opened up into a spacious, well lit, cavern. There was a large stone throne which he sat himself in. A few moments later a small imp-like creature approached him, she was mostly dark purple in color except her face which was white. She had sharp green eyes and wore a red scarf around her neck. Red gloves covered her pointed and most likely clawed hands. A yellow smiley face marking could be seen on its chest as well.

“My lord, Is there anything you require of this unworthy one?” She said with a deep bow, her nose nearly touching the stone floor.

“In fact there is Impmon,” The avian creature said, “Fetch Garurumon would you?” His voice sounded cold, powerful and commanding.

“Yes Lord Avismon.” She said bowing once more and heading off into another passage. Minutes later, Impmon had returned, behind her was Garurumon, He was a large wolf-like creature with silvery-white fur patterned with dark blue markings and bright magenta claws. His long feline esque tail swished elegantly as he walked past Impmon and faced Avismon. He dropped his tail and bowed his head.

“My lord, you summoned me?” He growled.

“Garurumon, It has been rumored that humans have appeared in the southern forests near the Modem River. I know you have particular experience with such creatures, so I would like you to observe them, if possible, kill the digimon accompanying them, but bring the humans back alive. I would like to be the one to kill them.”

“Yes my lord. Understood.” Garurumon said bowing.

“Also, Garurumon.” Avismon said grabbing Garurumon by the throat and lifting him up effortlessly, “If you even think of disobeying my orders, I shall have you begging for death.” He hissed.
Garurumon was thrashing about, trying to claw at Avismon’s hand as his windpipe was being crushed. Avismon threw him against the wall as easily as if Garurumon was no more than a doll. He hit the opposite wall of the cave with a crash. Coughing roughly, he staggered to his feet.

“So Garurumon, you do understand, correct?”

“Y-yes my lord.” He said hoarsely, limping from the cave and down a passage in order to do his dark master’s bidding.

As he walked down the tunnel he heard Impmon cackling in a singsong voice, “All gone, all dead, just to mess with Growlie’s head!”

 

[Tokyo Oranges]

Chapter One - The Fireworks Festival

The park was relatively quiet, though there was a small but growing crowd gathering for a fireworks festival, some vendors had already set up their stalls, the scent of food cooking added to the various scents already in the air. A young man, in his late teens was leaning against an ancient cherry tree. He had neat black hair tied back in a ponytail, though his long bangs hung down framing his face. He wore a simple light gray button up shirt with short sleeves and a patch on the left shoulder of the high school he attended. He also wore black pants and shoes. Behind a pair of dark blue framed glasses, his dark brown, almost black eyes looked up from his book and at the girl running towards him.

“Sorry I’m late! Riku senpai”

She was younger than him with shoulder length auburn hair and green eyes. She wore a purple tank top and baggy denim jeans, around her neck was a pair of worn, red-rimmed goggles. She stumbled to a stop in front of him, panting heavily.

“I had to help out mom in the shop.” She said once she caught her breath.

“Understandable Ari-san.” He said. “It still doesn’t explain why those two are late.” He said closing his book.
A few moments later there came the sound of two sets of feet running towards them. They were two young men each with dark green hair, aside from the fact that one had Gray eyes and the other had hazel, they looked pretty much identical. Though the twins style differed greatly. The hazel eyed twin wore a white button up shirt much like Riku’s minus the school logo, the first two buttons of it were also undone. He also had on dark blue denim jeans and dark gray tennis shoes. The other twin wore a dark gray t-shirt featuring a band’s logo and black cargo pants with white trimmed straps hanging down at the sides.

“Yo, Ari chan!” The gray eyed twin said brightly.

Ari looked at him and said, “Kenta kun, you’re late.”
“It’s all Kouta’s fault.”

Kouta rolled his eyes “Kenta’s the one who lost his wallet, causing us to miss the train.”

Kenta coughed rather loudly and then said “Well, anyway, let’s go find ourselves a good spot!” He called, walking off. Kouta rolled his eyes but followed his twin anyway. Ari and Riku followed as well. The four teenagers found a spot near the river to watch the fireworks. Soon dusk fell and the sky was filled with multicolored sparks.

-+-+-+-

In another part of the par, two girls were arguing about something.

“Look Nani. Meiru-chan has been missing for two years, the likelihood of her being alive is close to zero.” Said the older of the two. She looked to be in her late teens. She had two pieces of her pale green hair tied back so it curved over the back of her head, looking somewhat like antennae. She wore a dark green hooded sweatshirt over her scrawny frame and worn, somewhat secondhand looking jeans. Her light blue eyes currently showed her annoyance at the younger girl.

She was maybe 12 or 13 with short, somewhat messy dark brown hair and passionate green eyes. She wore a simple blue shirt and khaki colored shorts. Over her right shoulder was a bulky brown messenger bag.

“ I know that the odds are stacked astronomically against me Saia, but they never found Nee-san’s body, and all you told the police is that she was there one minute, and then the next time that you checked, she was gone. She’s still gotta be out there somewhere, I’m sure of it!” Nani said crossing her arms over her chest.

Saia sighed. “Nani, she’s not going to come back. Even if she’s still alive, there are millions of people just in Tokyo alone, probably more than even the entire population of Hokkaido.”

“So, you’ve just given up too, just like Mama and Papa and everyone else.” Nani swallowed hard, her body shaking, trying to hold back her own grief and rage.

Before Saia could do more than put a hand on Nani’s shoulder, two bright pinpricks of light seemed to separate from the flurry of sparks in the sky and flew towards them.

-+-+-+-

“Hey, what’s that?” Ari called out over the cacophony of bangs from the fireworks, four specks of light seemed to be moving separately from thee rest of the brightly colored pyrotechnics, as if they had some sort of purpose.

“I dunno.” Kenta said, “But I think they’re flying towards us.”

“It would seem so.” Riku said, barely audible above the fireworks.

The lights, or whatever they were seemed to slow down as they flew towards them. Though the people around them didn’t seem to notice them. Ari reached out for the one that seemed to be heading in her direction. It seemed to be glowing in a pale blue light, whatever it was. She grabbed it, it felt somewhat warm, as if it had been sitting in the sun for several hours. However, that was the last thing she remembered before she felt herself falling through space, unable to even think. She felt herself slam hard onto a soft, earthy surface before blacking out.

 

[Tokyo Oranges]

Chapter 2 A New World?


“Hey, C’mon, get up.” Came a voice, followed by several prods to the shoulder.

Ari stirred slightly, “Nuuh, five more minutes mom.” She groaned, reluctant to get up.

“This really isn’t the best place to be taking a nap you know.” The voice said.

“What do you mean, this is my room.” Ari mumbled, still refusing to open her eyes. She reached blindly for a pillow or a stuffed animal and grabbed the first soft thing she could find, but instead of cotton or synthetic fibers, she felt moss.

“What the.” She mumbled to herself. She opened her eyes and noticed she was lying on a forest floor. She sat up and glanced around, the forest didn’t seem quite normal, there were trees with strangely colored leaves and some had even stranger fruits hanging from them. But the oddest thing she could see was kneeling before her, an anthropomorphic feline creature. Her fur was mainly a medium blue color with a black stomach and black triangular markings around her fierce yellow eyes. Around her neck was a thick black leather collar with a large golden bell hanging from it. Around her wrists, ankles and even both tips of her forked tail were black bands made of a similar material to her collar. Her front paws had long black claws that Ari figured could probably slice through her flesh without much effort, the pads of her paws were black as well.

For a moment Ari looked at the cat monster thing and she looked right back at the human. Her yellow eyes gleaming in the dappled light of the forest. After a few moments Ari blurted out the first thing she could think of,

“Please don’t eat me, I don’t taste very good. I’m very tough and gristly and I’m past my expiration date.” She said this all very quickly and in a somewhat high pitched voice. This all however just caused the creature to laugh so hard she was rolling on her back, banging her fist against the ground.
Ari just stared at the creature, had she not been in shock she might have considered running for it. Though the creature soon regained her composure.

“You don’t have to worry about me eating you Ari. Though there are some digimon in this forest who would consider a creature like you a delicacy.” She grinned revealing a row of sharp pointy teeth her canines were especially long.

Ari blinked, “Digimon? What’s that? Also, How did you know my name?”

“Well, digimon is short for digital monster, which is what myself as well as most of the living creatures you’ll find here are, I’m Katimon by the way.” She said “As for how I know your name, I dunno really, I just always knew that I was waiting for you to come here.” She shrugged and placed her paws on her hips.

“So, I guess if you’re here, that means there are other humans here too.” Katimon twitched her ears this way and that listening for something. “I think I hear two of them coming now.” She said.

A moment later, Kenta came out of the brush towards them. Beside him was a furry orange dragonish creature wearing black samurai armor with purple accents. And a bronze wing-like crest surrounding a scarlet stone set into his forehead. Protruding from his helmet was a long ponytail of red hair or fur tied back with a purple piece of cloth.

“Yo Ari-chan!” Kenta said “This place is pretty crazy eh?” He glanced over to Katimon and back to Ari.

“So, There’s more of these crazy monster things than Ryudamon over here and Dorumon, the one that was sticking pretty close to Kouta.”

Katimon rolled her eyes and looked at Ryudamon. The little samurai dragon just smiled.

“Speaking of Kouta, I thought they were following right behind us.” Kenta mused.


Ryudamon nodded, “I thought so too.”

“Ah well, I’m sure they’ll catch up eventually.” He stuck his hands into his pockets, still looking around at the surreal forest.

“You seen Riku anywhere Ari-chan?” He asked after a moment.

Ari shook her head. “No, I haven’t.”

Kenta shrugged, “Well, most likely he’s probably leaning against a tree reading his book.” He grinned wolfishly at his friend.

“Y-yeah, that does sound like something Riku would do.” Though she still felt a little uneasy. Though she shrugged it off as just an aftereffect of being suddenly warped into a strange unfamiliar world with large, sentient monsters called digimon.”

Katimon frowned and glanced up to the trees, as if looking for something. Her ears were twitching back and forth for any scrap of sound.

“What’s wrong?” Ryudamon asked, looking up at Katimon.

“I saw those two assassins of Avismon’s near the cliffs earlier.” She said quietly.

Ryudamon repressed a shudder of fear, “I hope they don’t find those two.” He replied.

“Assassins? Also, who’s this Avismon guy?” Ari asked.

Kenta looked up as well, His easygoing demeanor changed when he found his twin’s life, as well as that of his friend’s might be in danger as well.

“Avismon is an evil, vile, mercilessly cruel digimon who rules this area. He’s intimidated most of the digimon into following him, some of the most twisted of them are part of his army. These two assassins, I don’t know what their names are and I‘ve only seen them once or twice before, but the first one, a rabbit digimon, he’s apparently skilled with twin daggers and can sneak up on his foes without them noticing and kill them swiftly. The other, some kind of fox digimon, she relishes in killing more than anything else, it’s what she lives for, She’ll burn them alive with her fire, but more likely she goes after them with nothing but her fangs and claws.” Katimon said.

“We should go look for them.” Ari said, “If these assassins are as bad as you say, we might be able to fight them off together.”

Katimon smiled slightly and nodded.

They walked back through the forest the way Kenta had come, they saw nothing until they reached a small clearing with a pond. Kouta was running towards them, a smear of blood on his face from a cut on his cheek, He cried out in relief when he saw his friend and brother. He ran up to them panting heavily.

“Kouta, what happened?” Kenta cried, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Where’s that Dorumon guy?”

Kouta took a deep breath trying to steady himself. “He’s fighting off this giant wolf creature, I dunno what happened, but, Riku was unconscious when I found him, I think he got attacked by the wolf thing before I found him. There was also this little white seal fighting it as well when I got there.”

Katimon tensed up. “Gomamon” She murmured.
“This isn’t good. How far away were they from here?” She asked, looking at Kouta.

“N-not too far from here, back that way a bit.” He said. He wiped away the blood that had started to ooze out of his wound as he had started speaking.

Katimon nodded, almost running in the direction Kouta had been coming from. The others had to run just to keep up with the feline digimon.

“Is this wolf thing an assassin too?” Kenta asked.

Ryudamon shook his head, “Though its likely it’s Garurumon. He’s one of Avismon’s top lieutenants, and rumored to be just as vicious, if not more so than his master.”

They came upon another clearing, Crouched, breathing harshly and bleeding from a wound on his side, a small purple and white canine-dragon hybrid snarled fiercely at the white and blue wolfish creature who stood in front of him. He fired a black metal ball at the wolf, however he easily dodged it and swept a massive paw at the dragon, causing him to be sent tumbling back. He collapsed on the ground. He tried to get back up, but his limbs gave out, drained of energy.

“KAT ICE!” Katimon cried, tossing a fist sized ice ball with cat ears at the back of his head. Garurumon turned to the group and snarled.

“Someone wants to be sent to an early grave.” He growled and ran at Katimon, fangs bared, whitish blue flames gathering at the back of his throat.

“HOWLING BLASTER!”

 

[Tokyo Oranges]

AN: Phew, I finally found the flash drive that I had this on. Anyway, here's chapter Three of Digimon V+

- - - -
Chapter Three - The Assassins

The two assassins that Katimon had mentioned were currently sitting in a tree. The fox was named Kitsunemon. She had ragged dark fur that might be red-orange if it was properly clean, it was hard to tell but her maw, hands, feet and the tip of her long tail were slightly lighter than the rest of her fur, possibly white but lack of care had caused them to be stained with dirt, and blood. On her left wrist was a dull bronze ring with a deep crack in it, almost splitting the thing in two. Her eyes were dull, clouded by insanity.

Her companion, the rabbit-like Usagimon watched her carefully with his pale green eyes. His fur was a creamy white color and he had green markings on his long ears, one of which had a single golden ring in it near the tip, and on his chest. He wore dark grey jeans. He carried two daggers, each in a sheath on his hip.

He sighed, causing Kitsunemon’s head to jerk up, she looked around wildly, her dark claws gouging the bark of the tree. She relaxed somewhat when she saw it was only Usagimon.
She wasn’t always like this, there were a few times where she seemed almost normal. However these few moments of lucidity were few and far between.

“Intruders.” She mumbled, pointing a dark claw at two figures coming down the path.

Usagimon studied them carefully, they were like no other digimon he had seen before, though the word ‘humans’ came to mind.

“Kill them?” Kitsunemon was watching them with a childlike curiosity.

“No, we have no orders to kill them, whoever they are.”

“But, on Avismon territory, not soldiers. I want to play with them.”

Usagimon shook his head. It was true that anyone who was not a member of Lord Avismon’s army were to be killed on sight, unless they had a really good reason for doing so. However, something about the two caused him to stay his hand. Not that he particularly enjoyed killing anyway. It was better than the alternative of being killed, but he avoided bloodshed if he could help it, despite his title of assassin.

“How about we follow them to see what they’re up to. If they prove to be a threat we can deal with them then.” Usagimon said, hoping somewhere in her clouded mind she could see the reason in his words. Humans didn’t just stroll through the digital world every day, there had to be some reason.

“Usagimon is weak, no want to play with intruders. But Kitsunemon will follow Usagimon, can trust him.” She stood, moving with a deadly predatory grace.

“Good.” He replied.

He froze as the humans passed under them, he could hear their hushed conversation, as they knew they were being watched.

“Nani, where are you going? We don’t even know where we are!” The taller one said. Something about her seemed to tug at Usagimon’s memories. Though, he had never seen the human before.

“We’re in a forest, albeit an odd one. That’s all we need to know Saia.” The smaller one mused. He noticed that Kitsunemon became rigid when she heard the girl’s voice. Her eyes became wide and her pupils mere slits. A moment later she relaxed.

“Kitsunemon will play anyway, They said it was okay. They don‘t like the small one.”

She jumped down form the branch and landed with a thump in front of the two humans.
Nani looked at the ragged vulpine creature as it advanced toward her.

“Want to play?” she asked, her voice hoarse.

Saia stepped forward, placing an arm protectively in front of her.

“No we don’t.” She said, though her voice shook slightly with fear.

Kitsunemon growled deeply.

“No ask you. Ask her.” She snarled, she shot out a clawed fist to strike the girl sending her crashing to the ground, bleeding from a gash on her forehead.

“Saia!” Nani cried, crouching by her.

Saia groaned and raised a hand to her face, feeling the warm, sticky liquid dribbling from the wound.

Saia sat up and felt the world spinning around her. She leaned forward and held her head in her hands, groaning and uttering several unintelligible curses.

Kitsunemon giggled. “They want me to taste your blood. They say it delicious.” She slowly walked towards Saia, a manic grin distorting her features.

“GIVE ME YOUR BLOOD!!!!” She cried, leaping at her.

Usagimon jumped down from where he was, pining Kitsunemon to the ground before she could strike. Saia could only stare, eyes wide with shock and fear.

“NO TOUCH!” she shrieked, thrashing against Usagimon’s grip.

“You two get away from here! I’ll take care of her.” He called to them.

- - - -

Nani pulled Saia to her feet, she swayed fro a moment, before leaning against the shorter girl. The two stumbled away while Usagimon wrestled with the crazed, panicking Kitsunemon.

The two didn’t make it very far before Saia tripped over a tree root, causing both of them to fall to the ground.

“You okay?” Nani said, managing to extract herself from beneath Saia.

“I’ll live.” She panted, getting to her knees. She wiped the blood out of her eyes. “Just as long as that bat **** crazy fox doesn’t come after us again.”

They could still hear the fox’s shrieks as the rabbit tried to subdue her.
“Well, as long as she’s distracted for the time being, I might as well try and patch that wound up.” Nani said. Her matter of fact tone was betrayed by her shaking hands which were trying to extract a small first aid kit from her bag.

“Why do you have a first aid kit with you in the first place?” Saia asked, trying to keep the conversation going, hoping it would drown out the fox’s screams.

“I thought it might come in handy.” She said, wiping Saia’s forehead with a handkerchief damp with rubbing alcohol.

Saia winced but didn’t complain otherwise. “I see.” She muttered as Nani finished dressing the wound.

“Well, that’s the best I can do, hopefully it’ll be alright for now.” She frowned, looking back the way they had come.

“It seems that she’s calmed down.” Nani said, taking note of the now silent forest.

“That almost makes it worse though. We don’t know where they a-” Saia was cut off by the sound of rustling in the bushes.

The rabbit appeared behind them, carrying the fox slumped over his shoulder. She appeared to be unconscious.

“My apologies for startling you.” He said, noting their shocked faces. “I wanted to apologize for Kitsunemon’s actions. I hope you are not too badly injured.”

“I’ll be fine.” Saia said, slowly rising to her feet, using a tree to keep herself steady.

“You said her name was Kitsunemon, might we ask what yours is?” Nani said, her curiosity winning over her fear.

“I am Usagimon. I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you if not for the circumstances.” He lay Kitsunemon on the ground gently. She instinctively curled into a ball near Usagimon’s feet.

“Yeah. ” Nani said, a small smile appearing on her face. She glanced over at Saia who was glaring at Usagimon, her eyes full of mistrust.

Suddenly, two high pitched beeping sounds could be heard emanating from both Nani and Saia’s pockets.

“Huh?” Nani rummaged around in her pocket and pulled out a red and gold colored device that looked much like a PDA. There was a screen set into it that showed a simple grid with two dots in the center, one red and one green. She glanced over at Saia who had pulled out a similar device, except hers was green and tan.
“I wonder what these are?” Nani said. Saia merely shrugged while Usagimon was watching curiously.

“I don’t really care what these things are, but it would be nice if they stopped making this obnoxious noise!” Saia muttered. She tried to find some sort of button or switch to turn the object off.

“Let me see it.” Usagimon said, taking a step toward Saia.

The girl looked sharply at him, wary of his long claws and the daggers at his hips. After several moments of tense silence she held it out to him. The moment he touched it, she could feel it grow warm in her hand and it seemed to glow for a moment, then suddenly the beeping stopped and the glow slowly subsided.

Usagimon lifted his paw from the device and frowned. “Odd.”

“This isn’t what I think it is, is it?” He cupped his chin in his paw and began to pace.

“That device, it has a connection to you, and it belongs to Saia, so It would be likely that you have a connection with her, unless I‘m much mistaken.” Nani said looking from Usagimon to Saia.

“It is possible.” Usagimon said, sitting down on a fallen tree. “Though not what I was expecting.”

“What do you mean?” Nani looked down at her own device. While it was still beeping, it did not seem to be as loud as before, perhaps she had just gotten used to the noise.

“It’ll take a bit to explain. Are you expected elsewhere?”

“Well, we were warped here from somewhere else and we have no idea where the **** we are does that give you any clue?” Saia snapped.

“Saia,” Nani said, looking up at her.

“You’re too trusting Nani! That fox thing tried to kill us, What’s to say this rabbit guy Isn’t trying to do the same. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t trying to lull us into a false sense of security only to kill us as soon as we let our guard down!”

Usagimon gave Saia an apprising look. “If I had any intention to kill you, I would have done so already. Your mistrust is well placed however, we are assassins.” He said the last word with disgust.

“Uh, anyway.” Nani said glancing between the two of them. “Usagimon, you were saying something about the connection between you and Saia. We really don’t have anywhere we need to be or anything. So, If it’s not too much trouble would you please explain what you might know.”

Usagimon let out a long sigh and stared fixedly at the ground. “It starts quite a while ago actually. Kitsunemon and myself were searching for something. It was important to us, more important than our own lives. We weren’t sure what it was, but we knew we had to find it, because without it, our own lives were meaningless.”

“While searching, we found a digimon called Avismon who was gathering followers. He had seen our fighting skills and asked us to join him. We thought perhaps we might be able to find what we were searching for with him. However, we were mistaken. We were forced to kill, or face death ourselves. It wasn’t much of a life really. But, we couldn’t get away. Slowly Kitsunemon began to lose her mind and one day, something within her just broke.”

“I feared that might happen to myself as well. I hoped that one day, maybe, we would find what we were seeking and be able to get away from Avismon once and for all. It seems that perhaps this day has come at last.” He finished looking up at Saia, a hint of apprehension in his eyes.

Saia looked back at him. Her hostility was gone, but before she could say anything, Kitsunemon awoke with a snarl, her golden eyes fixed on Nani’s still beeping device. She quickly got to her feet, her left paw shot out gripped Nani’s hand, along with the device in her own.

“STOP THAT NOISE!” She shrieked. A moment later the device started to glow, along with the ring on her wrist for the briefest of moments. The fox digimon went rigid and her grip slackened, allowing Nani to break free.

Kitsunemon dropped to the ground, shaking. “No.” She muttered. “I killed them all! Their blood, it won’t come off! I did this? AAAAAHHHHHHGGGGHHH!!!” She sobbed uncontrollably, rocking back and forth on her knees, clutching her head in her paws.

Nani cautiously knelt by the distraught creature and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. She flinched but made no move to attack her. “It’s okay, it’s okay” She murmured in what she hoped was a soothing voice, rubbing her back.

It took some time before Kitsunemon had calmed down. She drew a great shuddering breath and looked up, almost immediately her eyes met Usagimon’s. The rabbit digimon looked back at his friend. He saw her eyes, no longer clouded by madness, but filled with deepest remorse.

“Usagimon.” She said hoarsely. “I’m sorry.”

Usagimon knelt down and hugged her, pressing her tightly to his chest. “It’s alright. You’re back, that’s all that matters to me.” He said.

A moment later he helped her to her feet where she stood, swaying slightly. She looked over at Nani. “Thank you.” She said quietly. “I think I might owe you my life.”

Nani shrugged. “I didn’t really do anything.” Kitsunemon merely shook her head and said nothing more.

“So, erm, now what?” Saia asked, shifting from one foot to the other.

“There’s probably other humans in this forest too.” Nani said. “So our best bet would be to find them.”

“She’s probably right.” Usagimon said, looking away from Kitsunemon for a moment. “If you would allow us to come with you-”He was cut off by Nani.

“Why are you asking to come with us? It’s a bit redundant if you ask me. We’re partnered together through these things so of course you’re coming with us.” She said, holding up her own device.

Usagimon glanced at Saia, who merely sighed and said, “It can’t be helped can it?” For the first time, she smiled at the rabbit, who smiled back.

 

[Tokyo Oranges]

Chapter Four - Butterflymon

Katimon barely managed to dodge the jet of blue flames that Garurumon shot at her, diving to the ground as the wolf’s lithe form soared over her.

“Katimon! Are you okay?” Ari cried.

“I’m fine.” Katimon muttered getting to her feet.

Garurumon snarled. “You’re being foolish you know.”

“Nah. I’m just trying to do what’s right.” She said, forming another snowball in her paw.

“KAT ICE!” She cried, pelting it at the Garurumon.

He flicked it away easily with his tail. “Regardless of your reasons, I am much more powerful than you could ever hope to be. Or do you need more proof than your friends lying injured over there? HOWLING BLASTER!”

He shot another jet of flame at her and this time she was not so lucky to escape unscathed. The flame seared across her chest, sending her flying into a tree. She hit the bark with a dull thud and slid the ground and slumped over.

Ari ran to her digimon’s side. The feline digimon managed to sit up weakly and wiped a trickle of blood from her mouth.

“Heh heh, that almost hurt.” She mused as she staggered to her feet.

Ari glared at Garurumon, shaking with anger. “Stop it.” She said, “What have they done to you to deserve being attacked?”

Garurumon looked at the girl, “They’ve done nothing. I have my orders to kill them and take you humans captive.”

“Your orders?!” She shouted, outraged. “This is only a job to you! If you want to capture us so badly, you’ll have to fight us as well.” She raised a fist and ran at Garurumon.

“No! Ari you idiot! You‘ll get killed doing that!” Katimon cried, running after her partner. She felt a powerful surge of energy rise up within her, unlike anything she had ever felt before, suddenly she was surrounded by a burst of white light.

‘Katimon Evolve! Pantaramon!’

The light faded, but Katimon’s appearance had changed. She now took on the form of a large saber-toothed panther-like creature. She had shaggy dark purple fur that was patterned with lighter blue rings. She still kept the bands and collar that she had in her previous form. Ari stumbled to a halt, stunned by Pantaramon’s drastic change in appearance.

She lashed her long split tail and snarled at Garurumon. The wolf seemed rather unfazed by the change. “So, you evolved. That still isn’t enough to beat me.” He growled.

“Says you.” She turned to Ari. “I strongly suggest you stand back, The only thing here I want to do harm to is him.”

Ari nodded, dumbstruck and moved back, away from the two fighting digimon. Once she was far enough away, Pantaramon leapt into the air and cried, “GLAICER STRIKE!” while swinging her paws in a downward motion causing several shards of ice to pelt Garurumon, slicing through his flesh, each leaving a trail of scarlet blood in its wake.

“HOWLING BLASTER!” The wolf cried, This jet of fire, like the previous, found it’s mark, though this time it did much less damage than before. He snarled and leapt at her, sending her falling to the ground. Before long they were wrestling on the ground, jaws snapping at each other’s throats.

With all the commotion no one noticed the soft rushing sound of wing beats approaching.

“Stop.” Came a sharp, cold voice.”

Both digimon stopped at once, looking up to see yet another digimon had appeared. This one was covered in golden armor, with large white and purple butterfly wings protruding from her back and long white and purple antennae. She studied both of them with piercing blue eyes.

“Butterflymon, What are you doing here?” Garurumon snarled as he got to his feet.

“Your job here is done Garurumon, there is no need for you to be here any longer, run back to your master.” She said in the same cold voice.

Garurumon looked as though he was about to attack her, however a moment later, he turned and ran into the undergrowth of the forest.

“Kenta-kun, Kouta-kun, how are Riku-senpai and Dorumon?

“Dorumon’s fine,” Kouta said, but Riku and the little seal thing are still unconscious.

“Let me see them.” Butterflymon said. Her voice still sounded strangely cold, but it was gentler than when she had spoken to Garurumon.

Pantaramon followed her over, casting her yellow eyes worriedly at the small seal, lying unconscious by Riku’s side. Butterflymon crouched down by them, resting a claw, first on Riku’s chest, then on the seal’s.

“They are only unconscious. They have no serious injuries.” She said after several moments. Pantaramon breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness.” She said, crouching down by them.

“I wouldn’t relax just yet.” Butterflymon said, standing up. She was staring at the two digimon who had appeared at the far edge of the clearing.

“You!” Pantaramon snarled. “You work for Avismon too, don’t you!” Before either Kitsunemon or Usagimon could react, the panther digimon charged and slammed Kitsunemon into the ground.

“Go ahead, kill me. I probably deserve it.” Kitsunemon breathed. She had made no move to fight off the larger digimon, and even now, as she was being pinned down with Pantaramon’s jaws inches from her throat she made no move to defend her own life.

Usagimon had pulled his daggers from their sheathes and was about to strike when Nani came bursting through the undergrowth.
“Stop it!” She cried. “She’s with us. Both of them are!” By this time Saia had appeared as well, glancing from Nani to Pantaramon to the rest of the group.

“The girl speaks the truth.” Butterflymon said looking at them.

Pantaramon stepped away from Kitsunemon and snarled, “I would have done it, but, if half of what I’ve heard about you is true, You probably deserve to live with what you did, having it haunt you wherever you go.”

Kitsunemon said nothing as she slowly rose to her feet, merely giving Pantaramon a cold, appraising look.

“I would like all of you to follow me.” Butterflymon said as Pantaramon padded back to Ari. “On the condition that you don’t try to kill each other. On the way there.” She pointedly from Pantaramon to Usagimon and Kitsunemon.

Pantaramon said nothing but crouched down by Riku and Gomamon. “I’ll carry them. You get on too Ari, To uh, make sure they don’t fall off.” However, before they could begin to move Riku, there was a flash of light and Pantaramon reverted back to Katimon. “O-or not.” She looked visibly shaken. Ari thought perhaps it was just the sudden change in form.

“So this isn’t some kind of dream?” Riku’s voice stirred Ari from her thoughts, She turned around and saw he was conscious and had managed to prop himself up, the little seal creature, Gomamon, Katimon had called her, was stirring as well.

“Nope. Sorry to disappoint you man. But this seems to be completely real.” Kenta said, his usual carefree grin a shade of what it usually was.

“I see.” Riku said, adjusting his glasses. He noticed now that Gomamon was fully awake, her large green eyes seemed tearful. She began to speak in a soft, shaky voice,

“I am sorry Riku-sama, I have failed to protect you. I am not worthy of being your partner.”

Riku gave a small smile and picked her up, placing her in his lap. “You don’t need to apologize.” He said, stroking her bright orange mane. “You did your best.”

Gomamon shook her head. “No. I have not done my best. I promise that I shall become stronger so that I can protect you.”

Butterflymon coughed loudly. “If we’re done here. I would like to get going while it’s still light out. Unless you want to run in to more agents of Avismon. Not all of them are as harmless as the ones that you have met. Especially since by now he will know that you two have deserted him.” She said glancing over at Usagimon and Kitsunemon.

She began to walk away through the woods, the group was quick to follow. After several minutes of walking Kouta stopped and said, “How do we know that you’re not going to lead us into a trap of some kind?”

“Well well, color me impressed.” Butterflymon said dryly, glancing back at him. There was a hint of amusement in her blue eyes. “You humans are sharper than you look. Though believe me, if I was going to do anything of the sort, you’d all be dead by now. “

 

[Tokyo Oranges]

Chapter Five - The Resistance

A while later they came across a large Shinto temple. What looked to be a small orange and white gerbil-like creature was flying towards them. “Butterflymon!” he cried, “Welcome back, are these the humans?” He asked as he landed in front of them.

Butterflymon nodded. “Did anything happen while I was out Patamon?”

“There’s nothing major to report, but- wait a minute, I thought those two worked for Avismon?” He said, eying Usagimon and Kitsunemon with suspicion.

“Not anymore. They’re on our side now.” She said.

“I see.” Patamon nodded and began to lead them up a steep path that lead to the temple. “I’ll believe it because you say so Butterflymon, but your word isn’t going to be enough for most of the rest of the digimon in the base won’t be so easily swayed.”

“Pardon me,” Nani asked, “But what is this place?”

“Part refugee camp, part militia and the headquarters of the Avismon resistance forces.” Butterflymon said.

As they approached the temple, they saw several digimon coming and going, sometimes pausing to watch the group for a moment before getting on with their business.

“What were you saying before you noticed that two of these children’s digimon had rather notorious reputations?” Butterflymon said as they passed into the foyer.

“Oh, right,” He said, his ear-wings twitching slightly. “Some of our troops found traces that some of Avismon’s minions had been through the forest near the canyon. They followed the traces as far as they could but found no sign of them.”

Butterflymon sighed and ran a clawed hand through her antennae, like a human might run a hand through his hair. “Did you assign troops to keep an eye on the area in the meantime?” She asked.

“Of course.” Patamon said

“Good. I have to speak with them in private. You are free to go about your duties as usual. But first, Could you let the cooks know to bring food enough for all of them to the second meeting room?”

“Yes Butterflymon.” Patamon said before flying off.

At the mention of food there was a collective growling from the group’s stomachs, causing Butterflymon to chuckle. “Don’t worry. What I have to say won’t take long.” She said as she slid open the door to a medium sized room. Inside there was a long low table with cushions arranged around it. The room would have been quite unremarkable if not for the mural of a great vermillion bird-like creature on the far wall.

“So.” Butterflymon said, as soon as everyone had taken a seat. “You are probably wondering why you are here, in the digital world that is. We aren’t quite sure of the real reason ourselves. There are some digimon who say that the reason is that you are here is because of Avismon.”

“So. What you’re saying is you want us to go and kill him or something?” Kenta said.

“To be blunt, yes.” She said. “But you are obviously nowhere near ready, you could barely take on Garurumon by yourselves even after one of you had evolved.”

“Excuse me, but, I would have beaten him had you not interrupted.” Katimon said indignantly.

“Oh really?” Butterflymon said dryly. “When I got there he was one second from tearing out your throat. You all need training if you want to have any hope of survival.”

“Who said we were going to agree to something so obviously suicidal?” Saia said coolly.

“Well, Once he gets tired of sending his minions after you, if you’re still alive, he might just come after you himself. Believe me, you don’t want to have this happen.” The girl’s defiant expression faltered a bit, but she still met Butterflymon’s stern gaze with her own.

“Anyway, Those of you who want to learn to fight, you may stay. Those who would rather die now, the door is right there, go and wander around in the forest for a bit. We’ll be sure to collect your corpse in the morning. If there‘s anything left of it.”

Ari glanced around the table, no one moved. She looked up at Butterflymon who seemed quite pleased with herself, If she had a visible mouth, she’d be probably be smiling. Ari repressed a small shudder.

The door slid open a fraction and a digimon poked its head in. “M’am if you’re done speaking with the humans, we got their food here.”

“Very well. I’ll leave you be for now. Tomorrow you start training.” Butterflymon said as she walked out the door.

After she left, several digimon filed in, carrying trays laden with food. They lay them on the table without saying a word, Usagimon however noticed most of them were casting suspicious glances their way. He sighed and glanced over at Kitsunemon. She had finally snapped out of the crazed state she had been in for so long, but there still seemed to be something wrong. She had said very little and seemed to feel even less. He hoped with time she would go back to her old self again.

- - - -

The atmosphere seemed tense nothing was said as they ate their meal, which to Nani seemed like something quite normal for being in such a bizarre alternate universe. Though, something really needed to be done about the atmosphere. She lay her chopsticks down and stood up.

“Um, uh, I think we should go around and Introduce ourselves. It, it sounds kind of silly, but, if we’re going to be working together from now on, it would be a good start I think. I’m Inuzawa Nani by the way. It‘s nice to meet you guys.” She sat back down and looked over at Saia. The older girl rolled her eyes.

“Ibarashi Saia.” She said, frowning.

“Nice way to make a good impression” Nani muttered under her breath, causing Saia to scowl at her.

“I’m Tachikawa Ari.” The auburn haired girl said brightly. She seemed quite oblivious to the still tense and now somewhat awkward atmosphere. Or was at least good at not showing it.

The next to speak were the twins, they seemed to have the same cheery oblivious air about them as Ari. “We’re Kenta, and Kouta” They said in unison, “Our last name’s Kosiji, but, if you call us that, we don’t know which one you’re talking about and we have to talk like this, which gets kinda tedious after a while.”

Nani couldn’t help but laugh. “So, which one’s which then?”

Ari sighed. “Kenta-kun has Hazel eyes, and Kouta-kun’s are gray. They like to try and confuse people.”

“Anyway. I am Yashimiru Riku.” Said the young man as he adjusted his glasses. Several minutes later a different digimon came into the room, he was a small red and white hawk-like creature.

“If you are done eating.” He said in a crisp polite voice. “I have been instructed to show you to your rooms.”

Nani, suddenly realizing how tired she was, yawned and rose with everyone else and followed them to two separate rooms, one for the guys and one for the girls. The furnishings inside were very modest, merely futons on the floor. Without a word to the others, she lay down on one of them without bothering to lift up the covers and was asleep a moment later.

- - - -
Saia sat down on her bed and drew her knees up to her chest wrapping her arms around them. There was a soft snoring sound from the far side of the room telling her That Ari and her digimon were both asleep. She glanced over at Usagimon who sat down on the bed next to hers. She wanted to apologize to him for how she had been earlier. But she couldn’t think of what to say.

“would you mind if I took a look at your wound?” The rabbit digimon asked.

“Oh,” Saia said, snapping out of her thoughts. “Uh, sure.”

Usagimon crouched in front of her and gently unwrapped the bandage from her head and ran his thumb gently over the cut. It felt strangely hot for a second and then like nothing at all. He lifted his hand from her forehead and said. “It should be alright now.” He said.
Saia lifted a hand to her forehead and felt only a thin scar where her wound used to be.
“Thanks.” She murmured. Usagimon smiled as he sat back down on his own bed.

“Also, uh, I-I’m sorry, about earlier. It’s not that I don’t like you or want you around or anything. It’s just that, I was scared I guess.” She rested her head on her knees and sighed.

“You needn’t apologize. Don’t worry about it. Anyway, we should probably get some rest. I’m afraid that we are probably going to need it for tomorrow.”

“Y-yeah.” Saia said, lying back on her bed.

 

[Tokyo Oranges]

Chapter Six - Training

“Alright everybody, time to get up, C’mon LET’S MOVE!” Butterflymon cried, sliding the doors of their rooms open with a loud snap.

Kenta sat up groggily and glanced over at his twin, who, despite the early hour seemed quite awake, Ryudamon on the other hand was still asleep.

“Oi.” He muttered, prodding the armored dragon, “Time to get up, or drill sergeant nasty’s gonna have both our hides.”

Ryudamon lifted his head off of his forearms and blinked blearily. “Drill sergeant nasty eh? I Don’t think she’d like that very much.”

“No I wouldn’t, but it does have a nice ring to it.” Butterflymon said, glowering at them from the doorway. Both human and digimon shuddered. “You’d better get out here or as you put it, I will have your hides.”

Kouta smirked at his twin from the hallway. Kenta rolled his eyes as he and Ryudamon stepped out to join the others. What he saw piled before them were buckets of water and washrags. He had a sinking feeling he knew what they would be doing. He glanced at Kouta who was thinking the exact same thing. Their parents ran a dojo and used this same ‘training’ method. He felt it was more or less a way to get work that one didn’t want to do themselves done.

“To start off your training, You are going to be cleaning the floors. Since there is obviously not enough room for you to all be doing the same hallway, you will be split up into teams.”

“Excuse me,” Katimon said, “But, how is cleaning the floors supposed to be training?”

“Everything you do can be considered training.” Butterflymon said simply “Anyway, you will be split up as follows, Katimon, Kitsunemon and Dorumon, you will be doing the far hallway. Gomamon, Usagimon and Ryudamon, you will be doing the Left hallway. Saia, Kouta and Ari, you will be doing the right hallway, and Nani, Riku and Kenta, you get this hallway. Have fun.” She said cheerily. “I wouldn‘t slack off if I were you, It wouldn‘t be a pleasant experience.” She winked and knelt down in the doorway of the guy’s room.

- - - -

Gomamon panted heavily as she pushed her own wash rag across the floor Dorumon and Usagimon were waiting for her at the other side of the hallway. Her back legs were ill suited for this kind of work but she pushed on. A few minutes later, she reached the other side.

“Please,” She panted. “Do not compensate your own training for my sake. I can manage.”

“You sure?” Dorumon asked, concerned for his friend.

“Yes, I am Dorumon-san. I must train to become stronger as well after all. We have talked for too long as it is, we must get back to work.”

Both digimon nodded before taking off again. Gomamon turned herself around and began to make her way back down the hall. ‘I must get stronger. In order to be worthy of Riku-sama! I will not allow myself to be protected any longer, by Katimon-onee-sama or anyone else!’ This thought fueled her determination, helping her to work harder.

- - - -
Katimon found it hard to concentrate on what she was doing. Her complete hatred of anything that had to do with Avismon made her suspicious of every one of Kitsunemon’s actions. What she had told her yesterday was also weighing heavily on her mind.

“Go ahead, kill me. I Probably deserve it.”

She shook her head as she dipped her rag back into the bucket and wrung it out.

Kitsunemon looked over at her. “I am distracting you correct?” She said. Her voice was flat and expressionless. “I am not going to betray you. I want him dead as much as anyone. Also, you shouldn’t always believe the stories of others, the truth is sometimes atrociously worse.”

Katimon blinked and looked down at the rag in her paws, perhaps even more frustrated than she was before. She lay her rag back down and pushed it across the floor, rocketing past Kitsunemon and Ryudamon.

“I don’t know what you said, but now she probably has enough energy to clean the entire temple.” Ryudamon said, keeping pace with the fox digimon.

Kitsunemon merely gave an indifferent shrug and continued on with her work.

- - - -
“I haven‘t done this in years.” Nani said, wiping sweat off her brow. “I forgot how fun it could be.”

Kenta laughed, “Yeah, mom has us do it at least twice a week, believe me it isn’t so fun when it’s about the thousandth time you’ve done it.”

“Yes, but you’re at least used to it.” Riku said, wringing out his rag. “Though it could be worse than this.” He mused.

“I wouldn’t say that if I were you, I could make it much worse.” Butterflymon said wryly. She held a cup of tea in one hand and sipped from it lazily

“I wouldn’t push it, she means business.” Nani said.

“Speaking of which, you should all be doing less talking and more cleaning.” Butterflymon looked over at them. Both Riku and Nani had already resumed scrubbing, but Kenta stayed where he was.

“I said, get back to work.” Butterflymon said coolly.

“I don’t see how this is going to help us. Why should we be doing this?” He said, crossing his arms over his chest.

A moment later, Butterflymon landed inches from his face. “I would have thought that one who practices martial arts such as yourself might see the importance in training.” She grabbed his collar, pulling him up so that his face was only centimeters from hers. “But I guess maybe I was wrong. If you want to die, be my guess.” She said, letting him drop back to his knees.

Nani and Riku had been watching the whole ordeal. ‘Note to self, do NOT cross Butterflymon. Ever.’ Nani thought, as she resumed her cleaning after receiving a sharp glare from the armored digimon.

- - - -

“Ari-chan, wanna race?” Kouta asked grinning.

“Sure why not?” She said as she tied back her hair to keep it out of her face. “Uh, Ibarashi-chan, wanna join us?”

“No thanks.” Saia sighed. “You two should be treating this a little more seriously.”

“Your loss then.” Kouta said. “Ready, set, GO!” He cried, taking off down the hall.

“Hey! I wasn’t ready!” Ari called, scrambling to her feet, trying to catch up to him.

“It’s like they’re children.” She muttered exasperatedly as she began to scrub her own section of the floor. When she got to the other end of the hall. They were kneeling next to each other arguing over who had won their little race. She paid them no mind, at least until Ari Called her name.

“Ibarashi-chan, you were behind us, who got to the end first?”

Saia sighed again. “I wasn’t paying attention. Besides, if you keep running around like that you’ll get tired before you’re done.”

Ari frowned. “We are taking this seriously, we just wanna have a bit of fun along the way.”

“Whatever,” Saia replied, “Just don’t crash into anything, or anyone.”

She wasn’t sure whether one hour had passed, or eight, but they were still cleaning the floors, and Ari and Kouta were still racing each other. How they had so much stamina, Saia would never know. As for her, the last time she had done something like this, was back at Nani and Meiru’s grandfather’s house, before Meiru disappeared. She dipped her rag into her bucket and wiped her forehead.

“Hey, Ibarashi-chan, What’s that on your wrist?” Ari asked.

“N-nothing, Tachikawa-san.” Saia said, shaking her sleeve back down to cover the scars.

“Oh, okay.” Ari said, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Uh, by the way, you can call me Ari.” She smiled and held out a hand to her.

“Oh.” Saia said taking it. “I guess it’s okay if you call me Saia, Ari-san.” She couldn’t help but smile too.

“Hey, guys,” Kouta called from the other end of the hall, “Butterflymon says we’re finished here.”

“Be right there!” Ari called back as both girls got to their feet.

 

[Tokyo Oranges]

Chapter Seven - Ambush

Their training went on like that for several days. Their routine varied, sometimes they would be chopping firewood, other times they would be repairing the roof of the temple or other chores. Though through it, they grew closer together and learned to work together with one another. One night after a particularly long training session Saia, Ari and Nani were lying awake in their room talking.

“Mom’s probably worried sick about me.” Ari said suddenly.

Nani looked down at the floor. “My parents have probably called the police, the navy and the national guard to try and find me. After losing Meiru, this has got to be awful for them.”

“Mine couldn’t care less.” Saia said, her expression darkening. “They barely noticed when I ran away from home.”

“But, you live with your aunt now right? She’d be worried.” Nani said, frowning at her.

“Y-yeah. I guess she might.” Saia said lying back on her bed.

Ari looked questioningly at Nani but she just shook her head.

“It’s been too quiet. You would think that Avismon would be attacking this place every other day.” Nani said.

“He doesn’t work like that.” Kitsunemon said quietly. “He would know that attacking this place outright would be detrimental.” The change in Kitsunemon during their training had been the most prominent. She was still subdued, but she spoke more often and seemed to be more relaxed. It was still rare outside of Usagimon’s presence though. Her fur even looked different. Nani managed to get her into the bath and cleaned her fur of the earth and blood and accumulated grime from years of neglect, taking it from indistinct red brown, to a bright russet color. Her paws and the tip of her tail were once again white. Even the ring on her wrist, though still cracked, now shone in the moonlight filtering through the window.

“He prefers to attack when he knows the odds are in his favor.” Usagimon added.

“I see. It makes sense.” Ari said. Katimon snored loudly from where she lay and mumbled something indistinctly before rolling over to her side.

“Shh!” Usagimon said suddenly, raising a paw. “There’s someone outside.”

There was a rustling, crackling noise, and suddenly a bright flash of flame and a loud explosion.
“WE’RE UNDER ATTACK! “ Came a shriek from somewhere inside the temple

There was the sound of several sets of footsteps outside their door. It slid open to reveal Butterflymon. “C’mon you guys, we need all the help we can get.” She said. A moment later they heard her tell the guys the same thing.

They ran out of their rooms, following the trail of digimon outside. The battle was already raging, hundreds of digimon were fighting each other and a section of the temple was already reduced to rubble.
- - - -

Ryudamon sidestepped a gotsumon who came charging at him.

"IRON SHOT!" Came a shout from behind him. A large metal ball crashed into the rock creature, knocking it unconscious.

“Thanks.” Ryudamon said turning to Dorumon. He materialized a katana in his hand and aimed a slash at another oncoming digimon. Suddenly, a great white shape rocketed over them. There was a great deal of shouting and screaming as the new digimon was attacking.

It shot into the air, revealing itself to be a large winged serpent. She had red and gold markings on her body and a long crest of green feathers protruding from her head. Embedded into her forehead was a small dark crystal. With a jolt of terror, Dorumon and Ryudamon realized, trapped within her coils were Kenta and Kouta.

“I, Quetzalmon, speak to those humans and their digimon who have been hiding here. Turn yourselves in to face judgment from the great and all powerful Avismon-sama. Or one by one, we shall kill you, and everyone else in this feeble resistance.” She smiled and squeezed tighter around the two humans in her grip, causing them to cry out in pain.

“This is so like you to do something like this isn’t it Quetzalmon?” Came Kitsunemon’s voice.

“Oh Foxy.” Her voice changed, becoming almost child-like. “Last I heard, you were a jabbering lunatic, and a traitor”

Kitsunemon snarled. ”You heard wrong I guess. Except for the traitor part.”

“Oh, but dear foxy, we have missed you and Bunny ever so much since you disappeared.” She simpered. “We would love it if you would come back to us. Avismon-sama would give you a welcome back, to die for.” She giggled and looked down at Kitsunemon.

“We’d rather not.” She said, raising a paw, forming five small balls of fire in it. “MAGIC FIRE!” She cried, flinging them at her. The serpent merely shrugged them off as if they were no more than leaves.

However it distracted her long enough for Ryudamon to take a running leap and landed on her body, close to where she held the twins. He clung on desperately with claws and fangs, trying to keep his grip.

“Oh dear me, it seems a s though you digimon aren’t very bright are you?” She struck the dragon several times with her tail, an ominous cracking could be heard as she split open the armor on his body.

“Ryudamon!” Kenta gasped, barely able to breathe. “Get outta here or we’ll both be dead.” He smiled before falling unconscious. At that moment, Dorumon had attempted to join them and barely managed to hang on to the tip of her tail, which she was now whipping wildly back and forth.

Kouta was still conscious, barely, he watched Dorumon and Ryudamon’s desperate attempts to free them. He was frustrated with his own helplessness, but there was nothing he could do. Even now he could feel the foggy darkness beginning to cloud his mind. He saw a bright flash of light. Perhaps this was the light people saw when they were about to die.

‘Ryudamon Evolve! Ginryumon!
Dorumon Evolve! Dorugamon!’

The light faded around the two imposing figures that now hovered before Quetzalmon. Ginryumon was a long sleek orange dragonish creature covered in black armor. The red stone he had in his previous form was still on his forehead as well.

Dorugamon looked much like his previous form, however, he was much larger and fiercer looking. He had a ruff of white fur around his neck. The rest of his body was covered in dark blue fur with jagged black stripes. He was held aloft by large leathery black wings.


“Oh my! It seems you have evolved!” She said with mock surprise. “But I fear maybe you’re too late.”

“Shut up!” Ginryumon snarled. “KATANA SPEAR!” He shot several katana blades at her. One grazed the crystal embedded in her head, causing her to shriek in pain.

Her grip loosened on the twins and they began to fall. Ginryumon dove and barely managed to catch both of them, laying them gently on the ground next to Ari and Riku before flying back to confront Quetzalmon.

“Oh, you are no fun. I’m going to have to hurt you for doing that.” She began to beat her wings hard, a pale green aura surrounded them. She beat them for a final time, crying out, “TOLTECAN WINDS!”

A great gust of wind, glowing with the same pale green aura as her wings, struck them. They were sent flying and crashed into the temple roof with a great crash. They staggered into the air again. “Ginryumon, lets try hitting that thing in her forehead again.” Dorugamon muttered.

Ginryumon nodded as they approached Quetzalmon again.

“METAL CANNON!”
“KATANA SPEAR!”
The two dragons cried in unison. Their aim was true and both attacks struck her forehead. There was a loud crack as the crystal shattered. Quetzalmon shook her head screaming in agony, droplets of blood and shards of the crystal flew in all directions. She took a shuddering breath and looked down. Her own troops were being driven back by the temple residents. She began to laugh, an unnerving high pitched sound. “Dear me, It seems perhaps I might have just underestimated you by the tiniest bit, but don’t worry. You’ll be dead soon anyway. I’ll promise you that.” She said before flying away.

- - - -

The rising sun filtered through the broken sections of the temple, casting everything in a soft light. Butterflymon stood before the humans and their digimon partners. “Get some rest.” She told them. “You’re going to need it.”

“You mean after all this, we’re doing more training?” Kenta groaned, massaging his bruised ribs.

“No. Your training here is done. I do however have a request of you. Had the temple not been damaged so badly, I would do this myself. I have two letters I need delivered in Dragonstone Village. One for a digimon called Agumon, and another for Growmon. I’ll have Patamon go with you to serve as a guide.”

“Are you sure you don’t want us to help you?” Ari asked, glancing at the damaged temple. “I mean, you probably would not have been attacked had we not been here.”

Butterflymon shook her head. “Avismon would have sent some troops to attack here eventually. He just chose to use you being here as a convenient excuse. Now go and rest.”

 

[Tokyo Oranges]

Chapter Eight - Moving on

“Goodbye Butterflymon.” Ari said as the group prepared to leave. “Thanks, For everything.”
“No problem.” She said “Good luck, you’re going to need it.”

She watched as Patamon lead them down the path towards the river. She couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. ‘They’re going to be fine. It’s not like they’re completely helpless.’ She tried to convince herself. She ran a hand through her antennae and turned to look at the small crowd that had gathered to say farewell to the group.

“What are you looking at? They’re gone already. If you aren’t wounded, get to work on fixing the temple already!” She snapped.

“Yes M‘am!” was the collective chant from the group. They quickly got to work, not wanting to risk their leader’s ire.

- - - -

“Well, here we are.” Patamon said brightly, gesturing to a moderate sized boat bobbing in the swift moving river.

“We’re uh, supposed to get in that thing?” Katimon said, glancing nervously at the boat. “Isn’t there a way to get there that, uh, doesn’t involve water?”

“Well, unless you can fly, this is the fastest and safest way to get to the village.” He said.

Katimon merely nodded, looking none too pleased at the prospect of getting in the vessel. Ari put a hand on her digimon’s shoulder in what she hoped might be a comforting manner. Katimon grinned at her, though she still seemed nervous.

They climbed into the boat. It seemed much larger than what it had looked like from the bank, seating them all quite comfortably. A moment later the boat took off of it’s own volition.

“So, uh, how do we steer this thing?” Nani asked, looking around the boat.

“It steers itself.” Patamon said cheerfully.

Katimon swallowed and stared down at the ground.

“Do not worry Katimon onee-sama. I will not let anything happen to you.” She said quietly

“Thanks.” Katimon said, smiling at the seal digimon.

Later on the sun had begun to set, the water reflecting the fiery red orange color of the sky. The ride downriver was rather uneventful. Nani was curled up asleep against Kitsunemon. The fox sat rather rigidly, as though unsure what to do.

“We should be there soon.” Patamon said from his perch on the prow of the boat.

“Good.” Kenta said. “I’m starving” There was an audible growl from both his and Ryudamon’s stomachs.

Suddenly the smooth water became choppy and the boat began to rock violently.

“Waah!” Katimon cried, gripping the side of the boat. A great blue serpent shot out of the water, snarling at them. A large wave crashed over the boat, knocking Katimon into the water. She thrashed about in the water for several seconds before sinking below the surface.

“KATIMON!” Ari shrieked.
- - - -
Butterflymon was helping a Tapirmon and a Hagurumon repair part of the roof. They had gotten quite a start on the repairs, though it would still take a few weeks before it was complete. She glanced out over the trees. The wind shifted and she felt a familiar presence nearby.

“Can you finish this?” She said. “I need to check something.”

“Of course.” Tapirmon said, giving her a cheerful smile.

Butterflymon nodded and took off. She flew over the forest for several minutes before landing in a small clearing.

“Come out Garurumon. I know you’re here.” She said coolly.

The wolf padded out into the clearing. “Sharp as always Butterflymon.” he growled quietly.

“What do you want?” Butterflymon said, glaring at him.

“The humans, where have they gone.” He lashed his tail from side to side in agitation.

“Why would I tell you that?”

“If you don’t I’ll kill you.” He growled.

“Oh my, how cliché.” She said wryly.

“I’m serious!” He charged up to her so he was centimeters from her. “It wouldn’t matter if I killed you anyway. They already think you’re dead.”

Butterflymon’s expression hardened. ”So kill me then. But, think about what you’re doing. You should know, you can always come back.”

“I can’t!” he snapped. “He’ll kill them both! You don’t understand what kind of power he’s got. You haven’t seen what he keeps sealed in his chambers!” He began to pace back and forth frenetically.

Butterflymon crossed her arms over her chest. “Garurumon, calm down! We can get them back. We will get them back!”

“Really?” He snarled, pausing briefly. “You sound confident, yet, why would you not have done so sooner!”

“It would be difficult without having someone as a double agent.” Butterflymon said coolly.

“So you just want to use me is that it?”

“That’s not it at all,” Butterflymon sighed. “You are not the digimon I remember you to be. At least think about it Garurumon.” She said before taking off, leaving Garurumon on the ground to deal with his thoughts.

- - - -
Garurumon padded down through the dungeon caverns in Avismon’s fortress.

“What’chya doin’ Growlie?” Came a cheery voice from above him. There was a soft thud as he felt something land on his back. He growled deeply and turned to look at Impmon who was standing on his back.

“Get off.” He snarled.

“Aww Growlie is no fun, Impmon only wanted to make him feel better.” She chimed.

Garurumon shook his shoulders vigorously trying to dislodge her.

“Whee! Impmon thought Growlie was in no mood to play!” She laughed as she grabbed on to one of the spines sticking from his shoulders.

“I’m not.” He said coldly. “Doesn’t Avismon-sama have something for you to do?”

“Nope! Impmon has no orders from Avismon-sama at the moment.”

“Well, you certainly must have something better to do?” He was quickly growing tired of Impmon’s attitude.

“Of course not. Growlie is Impmon’s absolute favorite!” She crawled up onto Garurumon’s head and peered down at him.
“Is Growlie going to visit the humans?” She asked.

“What business is it to you what I’m doing down here?” He shook his head vigorously and finally managed to dislodge the small demon.

“Well, Avismon-sama said it was a big no-no for Growlie to see the humans.” She said, landing a few feet away.

“I said leave. Now.” He snarled.

“Oh, fine.” She pouted. “Growlie was starting to become boring anyway.” She skipped past him, humming to herself.

Garurumon shook his head and continued down through the bowels of the mountain to the deepest part.

“Garurumon, is that you?” Came a hoarse voice from the gloom.
“It’s me Yamato.” Garurumon said padding up to the cell. Inside were two humans, both men in their early thirties. The one who had spoken had untidy dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. His jaw was dark with stubble and his clothing ragged. The other man was in much the same state as the first, though he had brown hair that stuck up at impossible angles and brown eyes that were currently narrowed in suspicion.

“What are you doing here?” Yamato said a hint of concern in his voice. “I thought Avismon forbade you from seeing us.”

“He’s probably come to tell us that the bastard’s finally going to execute us.” The other man said bitterly.

“Taichi!” Yamato cried, glaring back at him. “I don’t think he’s there for that.” He cast a glance at his partner and the wolf shook his head.

“I just needed to talk to you.” He said, pressing his head against the cell bars.

“I see.” Yamato said, stroking the wolf’s head with his thumb. “What about?”

Garurumon sighed. “I ran into Butterflymon earlier. She tried to convince me to go over to their side, as a double agent. She said we’d be able to get you guys out of here.”

“What did you tell her.” Yamato said, his blue eyes meeting his partner’s golden ones.

“I didn’t give her an answer. I don’t know what I should do. I don’t want to get you guys killed, but I hate what I’ve become.” He looked down at the ground, unwilling to look at Yamato any longer.

“Listen Garurumon. You do what you feel is right. Don’t worry about us, or Avismon or Butterflymon. It’s your choice that matters.” He smiled and looked down at his friend.

“T-thanks, Yamato. I’ll think about what you said. I have to go now, or Avismon will get suspicious.” He gave the two humans one last glance before turning and running back up the hallway.

- - - -

“Avismon-sama please forgive me!” Shrieked Quetzalmon as she was knocked into the cavern wall of his chambers. Four long slashes on her chest oozed blood down her chest, pooling in a spreading puddle before her. She weakly righted herself and gazed up at her master with both fear and adoration.

“I do not forgive failure.” Avismon said coldly, shaking the blood from his claws as if it were water. “Especially after I so kindly gave you a dark crystal to amplify your abilities. It should have been easy for you to kill them all”

“M-my lord,” She stammered, “It should have been easy, yes. But, I fear that their power, It might almost be equal to yours Avismon-sama.”

Avismon began to laugh, a cruel mirthless sound. “How foolish.” He glared down at Quetzalmon with his pitiless amber eyes. “It seems, perhaps you are no longer of use to me.”

“N-no!” She gasped in fear. “P-please, Avismon-sama. Have mercy! I- I can prove I am your most loyal servant!” She pleaded.

“Enough with your incessant babbling!” He stretched his wings to their fullest extent, the air was full of an almost tangible tension as the air began to stir, though no wind was blowing outside. “DEADLY TEMPEST!” He cried, bringing his wings down, along with a great maelstrom of winds that began to slice through Quetzalmon’s flesh.

“AVISMON-SAMAAAAAAA!” She shrieked as her body was sliced to pieces. The winds stopped and her head dropped to the ground with a sickening thud. It rolled for a few feet and stopped at Avismon’s talons. Her eyes, were fixed up at Avismon wide with the pain and terror she felt just before her death.

“Worthless.” He muttered as her head, along with the remnants of her body disappeared into millions of particles of data.

“Avismon-sama.” Impmon said, stepping into Avismon’s chambers, bowing low. “This unworthy one’s most humblest apologies for entering uninvited. However, she has most disconcerting news for her great and all powerful master. Garurumon has been to see the humans. He speaks of deceit and betrayal towards you. I fear it is time that he, as well as those foul humans be disposed of for good.”

Avismon looked down at Impmon. “Thank you for telling me this Impmon. I shall personally see to it that the problem is taken care of.”

 

[Tokyo Oranges]

Ari watched, terrified as her digimon did not resurface Patamon had already taken off and tried to attack the digimon that had begun to attack them, but the balls of air he was shooting at It seemed to do little to it. The creature bent down so it’s yellow masked face was feet from their heads.

“Fresh meat. Seadramon has not feasted in so long.” It hissed. “The cat will make a tasty snack for later. He will eat you creatures first. Starting with this one.” He leveled its head with Riku.

“You shall not harm Riku-sama, nor Katimon onee-sama!” Gomamon cried furiously. “MARCHING FISHES!” A myriad of multicolored fish leapt from the water and attacked Seadramon, causing him to swing his head furiously to try and dislodge the creatures.

“Please, attack him while he is distracted. I must find Onee-sama.” She glanced back at Riku. “Do not worry about me Riku-sama I will be alright.” she said before diving into the water.

Beneath the waves, she searched desperately for any sign of her dearest friend, her thoughts racing. Every time she had been in danger, Katimon had been the one to protect her. It was time she repaid part of the favor.

She caught sight of a golden glimmer to her right. She kicked furiously to find Katimon’s unconscious form pinned beneath a large, scarlet and blue leaf. At least it was what she thought it was, until she saw it was connected to Seadramon’s body. She tugged furiously, trying in vain to free her.

‘She cannot survive much longer down here’ Gomamon thought.

In her desperation she began to stab the creature’s leaf-like tail with her claws. Small clouds of blood spurted from the wounds she left. After several tense moments, his tail shifted and Gomamon was able to pull Katimon free. She swam toward the surface as quickly as she could while weighed down by Katimon’s bulk.

She finally broke the surface of the water. Katimon spat forth a great amount of water before coughing loudly several times. Ari was already at the edge of the boat. She tugged the sodden feline into the boat and before she could give Gomamon so much as a look of gratitude, Seadramon let out a screech of rage.

“It dares to interrupt Seadramon’s meal. Barely a mouthful this creature tries to steal his food. Its going to be punished. It seems to like these other food creatures. Seadramon will eat these before its eyes, then it can join them.” Seadramon snarled. He dove at the small boat, aiming for Riku.

“NO!” Gomamon cried, She felt energy build within her body and was enveloped in a blinding white light.

‘Gomamon Evolve! Sealmon!’

Sealmon leapt from the water and was clinging to Seadramon’s back, her long claws digging into the creature’s flesh. She was much larger than her previous form. The long ear-like appendages on her head now streamed back to her shoulders and her bright orange mane ran the length of her body. Her tail was rather long and ended in a large fin. Though her body still looked vaguely seal-like her limbs would not look out of place on a polar bear. Her face and ears were covered in splashes of purple, as was her tail fin. Seadramon snarled and thrashed trying to dislodge her. Though merely causing itself more pain as she dug her claws in deeper.

“I can not allow you to harm my friends! Please, be gone, or I shall be forced to harm you even further.”

“Silly creature got larger. Much better meal for Seadramon.”
“If that is how you choose to behave, I am afraid I have no other choice.” She clawed her way up Seadramon’s back so she was positioned right behind his head. “Please,” She called down to her friends. “Cover your ears, I do not wish to hurt you as well.”

Though slightly confused, they did as instructed, when she had seen that her friends ears were covered she inhaled deeply and cried out, “POSIDEON’S ECHO!”

High pitched shrieks could be heard and each one seemed like a physical blow to the back of Seadramon’s skull. Its own screams of pain were inaudible against Sealmon‘s attack. After several seconds Seadramon’s thrashing stopped and it fell with a mighty crash into the water below.

Sealmon swam up to the boat. “Is everyone all right?” She asked, her eyes resting on Katimon.

“I think so.” Nani said.

Katimon shivered and coughed several times before saying. “I-I’m f-f-f-fine.” She stammered.

Sealmon glanced back at Seadramon’s unconscious form. “Oh, I hope he will be alright. I did not want to have to take it this far.”

“You know,” Patamon said smiling at her. “I’m not so sure now if I should be more afraid of you or Butterflymon when you’re angry.”

“Oh!” Sealmon cried. “I-I uh do not want anyone to be afraid if me! I was just angry that Seadramon was trying to hurt you.” She said, shaking her head, blushing faintly through her fur.

Riku reached out a hand to stroke Sealmon’s muzzle. “Thanks.” He said quietly. Sealmon merely smiled as she began to swim alongside the boat as it continued its journey downriver.

- - - -

The boat docked itself in a small harbor half an hour later. The cliffside had a long trail zigzagging up it. “Patamon!” Came a voice from above them. There was a clattering of claws on stone as a large dark lizard like creature scrambled down to meet them.

She looked like a small dinosaur with wing like appendages on her head and red markings on her body. Her chest was white with a strange black symbol on it. Over her shoulder she carried a small bag with her. Her large yellow eyes made her look more childish than her otherwise fierce appearance would suggest.

“I thought you would be flying with Butterflymon.” She said, glancing curiously at the humans and their digimon.

“Nope, the temple was attacked.” Patamon said. “Everyone’s alright though, there were no major casualties, but the temple itself took pretty heavy damage.”

“Oh no.” The lizard said, her ears drooping. “We should tell Growmon right away.”
“That’s all in the report we’re bringing him. We’ve also got a letter for Agumon as well.” He said.

“Oops!” The lizard said looking back at the humans, “I forgot, to introduce myself. Sorry, I forget stuff all the time, but uh, anyway, I’m Black Guilmon.” She said brightly.

“It is a pleasure to meet you as well.” Sealmon said as she climbed out of the river. There was another flash and she transformed back into Gomamon.

Black Guilmon smiled, but her face fell slightly when she saw Katimon who was still shivering and coughing. “Did you fall in the river?” She asked.

“I g-g-guess you c-could say that.” She muttered.

“This should help you then.” She said pulling a small vial of red liquid from her bag. “I should warn you though, I’m pretty sure it’s a tad spicy.” She uncorked it and held it out to the feline digimon.

Katimon took the vial and downed its contents in one gulp. “You said this would be a tad spicy. I would like to know what your definition of extremely spicy is.” She gasped.

“Well, at least you’re not shivering or coughing anymore.” Black Guilmon said blithely. “Anyway would you like me to show you to the village?”

“That’d be great.” Patamon said quickly.

Black Guilmon lead the group up the cliffside path to a large village, many of the houses seemed to be hewn out of the surrounding stone, or built into the cliffs themselves. There were several small pockets of sediment where the citizens grew crops. There were several pine trees that seemed to grow directly from the stone itself. As they got closer to the center of town they noticed that several of the homes seemed to have been blackened by fire, or some destroyed outright. Though the digimon that lived there seemed quite cheerful and easygoing.

The central plaza was elegantly decorated, with a mosaic on the ground shaped like a sun with a beautiful fountain in the center. Though, the statue in the fountain bore the same damage as many of the surrounding buildings.

They were lead through a large gate to an even larger building. Black Guilmon pushed open the door of the building and lead them into a large entrance hall.

“Wait here.” She said, “I’ll see if Growmon’s in.”

She walked off, the sound of her talons clicking on the stone floor echoing loudly off the walls. Several minutes later she returned. “He’ll come see you now.”

They followed her down the hallway to a large room. She pushed open the door and showed them in. Standing in front of a large window, was a digimon who looked very similar to Black Guilmon, except is markings were black on red. He was also much larger with horns sticking out of his head and a short mane of white hair. He crouched down so he could speak with them at eye level.

“Hello,” He said cheerfully. “Welcome to Dragonstone Village.”

Ari fished out the two letters that Butterflymon had given her, “Thank you.” She said, she held out the larger of the two letters to him, “Butterflymon asked us to give you this, and also, we have another letter for a digimon named Agumon.”

Growmon took the letter in his claw and opened it. He muttered indiscernibly while he read it before folding it up and setting it on a table.

“Well.” He said after a while. “I think that tomorrow night we should celebrate our guests of honor with a feast. Black Guilmon, would you please let everyone in the village know so we can get ready.”

“Yes Growmon!” She said cheerfully before running out if the room.

“As for you, Agumon won’t be here until tomorrow morning. It is late and I’m sure you’ve had a tiring journey over here. The last two rooms on the right have been made up for guests, I’m sure you’ll find them quite comfortable.”

“Thank you. Growmon.” Ari said before they left the room.